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The 125th Milestone - A Retrospect Honble Mr. Justice A.N. VarmaSeldom has history unfolded itself with little or no clues to what it holds for the future as when our Templeof Justice was consecrated in 1866. The day was 18th June, 1866, marking the birth of our Court. On thathistoric day six Judges - the entire complement of the Court - quietly walked in, took their seats andbegan the days work as if totally oblivious of the great transition from the Sadar Diwani and SadarNazamat Adalats to a High Court. No reference, no speeches, no fanfare, symbolizing absolute and totaldevotion to their high judicial responsibilities.Created by a colonial people primarily for handling routine civil and criminal matters for the subjects andnot possessing the power to review executive action or legislative measures, the Court soon became oneof the strongest Citadels of Justice across the length and breadth of the country. Considering the chain ofcolonial laws and ethos spread around it, the assertion of independence by the Judges of the Court in theearlier period of its history must have baffled the rulers.A century and a quarter has passed since. In terms of human history, 125 years are like a speck of dust inthe vast expanse of atmosphere worthy not even of being recorded. But where these years are marked bypublic service and achievements so profound as to affect the course of history, the Anniversary - 125th inthe present case - calls for celebrations as also for remembrance and homage to the Founding Fatherswho laid the foundation of our institution and built upon it an edifice so sturdy and strong as not only instand the test of time but to hold the potential and promise to continue to play the role of sentinal qui vivefor the preservation of human rights for centuries to come. This may not be dismissed as a mere cliche oran idle dream. The optimism is born out of the conviction that the Temple of Justice is the mostpermanent of all the temples on this earth. History will bear this out. Institutions come and go. The historyof the mankind changes. The greatest of Scientific truths also pass away into oblivion replaced by newdiscoveries, thoughts and ideas. But the urge to seek justice is an imperishable human instinct that defiesany change. It is inherent in man and all attempts to suppress or destroy it have been repulsedthroughout the ages. It is in this inalterable truth that an institution like the High Court retains a permanentplace in the life of a nation.Consecrated in 1866 under a Royal Charter issued by Queen Victoria, the British Sovereign, with themodest complement of six Judges and an equal number of advocates, today the High Court of Judicatureat Allahabad has become the largest of all the High Courts in the country in terms of number of Judges,the population of the State and the number of cases it is called upon to handle. It was established onlyfour years after the coming into existence of the three Presidency High Courts, replacing the SadarDewani Adalat and Sadar Nizamat Adalat of the North-Western Provinces (later came to be known asUnited Provinces). Sir Walter Morgan, a Judge of the Calcutta High Court, was designated as the firstChief Justice of the Court. He was a member of the English Bar. It is significant that for almost 100 yearsafter its creation, the Chief Justice of the Court was always drawn from the Bar and not from the CivilServices.It is remarkable that though established primarily for deciding routine criminal matters and privatedisputes based on personal laws of diverse communities, castes and sects among the subjects from thevery first decade the Court began to assert its independence to a degree which was amazing. Instancesof such assertion have been mentioned a little later.The early period of the work of the Court was marked by exposition of principles underlying the greatCodes of Civil and Criminal Procedures, the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Evidence Act, 1872, theContract Act, 1872, the Transfer of Property Act, 1882. During this period, the Judges of our Courtrendered some of the greatest judgments concerned with expounding the most intricate principles ofHindu Law and Muslim Law.The year 1882 saw the emergence at the age of 32, of one of the greatest Judges produced by this Courtin its entire history-Mr Justice Syed Mahmood. Chief Justice Hindayatullah commenting on JusticeMahmood, says Anyone who wishes to name six greatest Indian Judges of all times, must find it difficultto omit the name of Syed Mahmood from his list. It is indeed a moot question how far he will go in his listbefore he must name him. His career as a permanent Judge of this Court started at the age of 36 andended at the age of 44 and within a short span of eight years he enriched legal thought by his classicjudgments sufficient to confer immortality upon any Judge anywhere in the world. Indeed he was farahead of his time and a genius par excellence. If the history of this Court were written, his name shall beinscribed in letters of Gold. That he acquired such a lasting fame within less than 8years of his stint on theBench and that his judgments continue to illumine legal thought with the same brightness with which ithad dazzled in the last quarter of the nineteenth century points to the stature of the Judge. He hasperhaps given to our Court more than any other Judge throughout its history of 125 years. Chief JusticeSubbarao paying tributes to Mahmood said, His judgments are masterly exposition on the differentsubjects dealt with by him. They reflect research, scholarship, hard work and thoroughness in detail.Some of his judgments hold the field even now though a century has passed since they were delivered.Both Justice Mahmood of our Court and Justice Muthuswamy Ayyar of the Madras High Court werecontemporaries and were unanimously rated as the greatest Judges of the day. It is said thatMuthuswamy Ayyar came all the way from Madras to Allahabad to meet Justice Mahmood. Sir WhitleyStokes said of Justice Mahmood in his Anglo-Indian Codes that no judgments in the whole series ofIndian Law Reports are more wieghty and illuminating than those of Justice Syed Mahmood of our Court

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and Justice Muthuswamy Ayyar of the Madras High Court.It is remarkable that the very first quarter of a century of the Allahabad High Court after its establishmentshould constitute a golden chapter in its history. It saw the emergence of many a great Judge, and manya powerful Advocate and erudite lawyer of everlasting fame. Sir John Edge who took over as the ChiefJustice of the High Court in 1886 and remained there until 1898 when he was elevated as a distinguishedmember of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, shall always be remembered as one of the mostoutstanding Chief Justices ever produced by this Court.A remarkable episode took place which eloquently speaks of the fearlessness and independencedisplayed by the Judges of this Court from its earliest times. The incident demonstrates that the Judges ofthis Court were not prepared to brook the slightest attempt at interference by the Executive with respect tomatters falling within their exclusive province. In 1887, a bill was introduced in the House of Lords toregulate the jurisdiction of the High Courts and the place of sitting of Judges. The bill having passed theHouse of Lords had gone through the first reading in the House of Commons. Sir John Edge, the learnedChief Justice was quick to discern in the Bill a serious encroachment on the powers and independence ofthe High Courts. The learned Chief Justice immediately consulted his colleagues one of whom was thefamed Syed Mahmood and immediately sent a wire to Mr Macpherson, Secretary of State for India,reading: "We doubt words High Court Bill, purpose of regulating power appointing Additional Judges. Deprecate Section 3 depriving Chief Justices control over composition of Benches."The next day a detailed letter was sent to the India Office. In the letter, Sir John Edge pointed out that theBill was a serious attempt at interference with the Judiciary. Remarkable as it may appear, the perniciousBill was dropped.Yet another instance was the occasion when in the very first decade the Governor General of India triedto interfere with a matter pertaining to the sentence which was awarded to an Englishman charged withthe offence of having assaulted his servant who eventually died. The accused was sentenced to pay afine of Rs.30/- or undergo 15 days simple imprisonment. The Local Government at the instance of theGovernment of India requested the High Court for its opinion on the adequacy of the sentence. TheGovernor General thought the accused deserved a much severer sentence. The High Court wrote backinforming the Local Government that though the sentence was lighter than the Court itself would havebeen disposed to inflict, it was in the circumstances not open to any objection. Upon this, the GovernorGeneral wrote a strong letter containing remarks which were disparaging to the High Court. The Courttook serious view of this obvious attempt by the Executive to interfere with a purely judicial matter andwrote to the Government of India asserting that the Governor Generals pronouncement gave rise toimportant questions as to the position of the High Courts in India and that it did not lie within the provinceof the Government either to approve or condemn the action of the High Court in any matter which fellwithin its jurisdiction.A similar episode was repeated in 1905. A question arose relating to the change of the designation andthe Seal of the Court prescribed by the Letters Patent granted to the Court. The learned Attorney Generaland Solicitor General of England were of the opinion that the Seal could be altered by a simple executiveorder by the Governor General in Council. The Judges of this Court, however, took a contrary view.According to them, the Letters Patent of the Court could not be amended except by an Act of Parliament,though they desired the amendment itself. The view of the Judges prevailed against the opinionexpressed by the Attorney General and his learned colleague. The Letters Patent of this Court wereaccordingly amended later by an Act of Parliament.Again in 1937, the Chief Secretary to the Government sent a circular to Sessions Judges in UP pointingout that the Government is disturbed by the way in which bail applications are being granted so liberallyby the courts. Sir John Gibb Thom, the Chief Justice of the Court immediately protested to theGovernment in the strongest terms and demanded withdrawal of the Secretarys letter along with anapology failing which the Court will be constrained to draw contempt proceedings against him. The ChiefSecretary immediately withdrew the letter and tendered an unqualified apology. These are but a fewinstances demonstrating that the Court maintained the highest traditions of judicial independence rightfrom the beginning.The Roll of Honour of Judges of this Court before the dawn of Independence consists of men of undyingfame. One is awe-striken by a mere glance at the names-the famed Syed Mahmood, Sir John Edge,Straight, Sir PC Banerji, Sir Shah Sulaiman, Sir Lal Gopal Mukherji and Niamatullah.The Bar of this Court too reached remarkable heights within the very first quarter of the century since itsestablishment. Munshi Hanuman Prasad, Pt. Ajudhiya Nath, Pt. Bishambher Nath and Munshi RamPrasad who were the leaders of the Bar in the Sadar Diwani Adalat at once became the leaders of theBar in the Sadar Diwani Adalat at once became the leaders of the Bar of the new High Court also despitethe handicap of language. They were used to arguing in Urdu, the accepted court language. They,however, quickly picked up English and soon came to the fore and retained the same pride of place whichthey had earned in the Sadar Diwani Adalat. Of Pt. Ajudhiya Nath, Sir John Edge, the learned ChiefJustice said that in sheer forensic eloquence he ranked with Sir John Russel, the celebrated Englishlawyer who had become a legend in his lifetime.

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A little later came another band of legal luminaries. Renowned for their erudition, eloquence and masterlypresentation of their cases, these stalwarts took the reputation to unprecedented heights. To name a few,there were Pt. Motilal Nehru, described as a charmer by Justice Mahmood, Sir Sunderlal whose superbart consisted in artless simplicity and incisiveness and whose mastery over the Hindu Law was unrivalled,Mr. Jogendra Nath Chaudhry, whose advocacy and eloquence was the envy of this great contemporaries,and Sri Ram Prasad, a counsel of equal eminence. Incidentally, these venerable lawyers were the firstamong the Indian Vakils to be designated as Advocates by the Chief Justice in 1892. Pt Ajudhiya Nathwho was sought to be conferred the same honour a few years earlier, had declined it understandably onthe ground that some of his learned colleagues were being unjustly deprived of the honour.By the turn of the century emerged a group of lawyers to whom this Court owes a debt which perhaps itcan never repay for the fame and glory they brought to the Court. The first among them was the RightHonble Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru who reigned supreme at the Bar for almost half a century. Brilliant andprofoundly learned in law and classics, his arguments were marked by a complete mastery over mostintricate aspects of law and jurisprudence. The flow of his erudition and the orderly array of hissubmissions were compared with incessant waves of an ocean. He rose to be a Member of the ViceroysExecutive Council and represented India on several occasions at the Round Table Conferences. Therewas then Dr Satish Chandra Banerji, a contemporary of Sir Tej, who was a scholar of rare erudition inlaw, literature and philosophy. He was a Premchand Roychand scholar and also a Tagore Lal Lecturer.Dr S N Sen who was also a Judge for some time was yet another eloquent lawyer whose arguments wereextensively embellished with quotations from classics and poetry of which he was a master. Pt MadanMohan Malaviya, another outstanding lawyer, was famous for his oratory. Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru alsojoined the Bar of this Court about this time but soon opted out to answer the call of the Nation then in thethroes of struggle for freedom.The succeeding generation of the legal giants included such awe-inspiring names as Dr Kailash NathKatju, who needs no introduction and Mr Pearey Lal Banerji, whose delivery and flow of arguments werethe envy of the greatest lawyers of his day. He was also a distinguished Advocate General of the State.For decades these two giants were pitted against one another but without any trace of rancor existingbetween them. While, however, Mr. Banerji confined his activities to the practice of law, Dr Katju cameinto the mainstream of national politics and the freedom movement which was then at its height and soonbecame one of the greatest national leaders. He was successively Governor of two States-West Bengaland Orissa, Law Minister and Defence Minister in the Union Cabinet and finally the Chief Minister ofMadhya Pradesh. He was regarded as the greatest case-winner ever produced by this Court. Among hiscontemporaries were Mr. S.K. Dar and Dr N.P. Asthana, Dr Asthana was a first Advocate General of UttarPradesh and was President of the High Court Bar Association for several decades.No account of the history of the Allahabad High Court would be complete without reference to the greatLuminaries of the Oudh Chief Court which was merged in this Court in 1948. The Law Reports of thatCourt are replete with monumental judgments rendered by the Judges of that Court. Outstanding amongthese were Sir Solmand Chamiar, Sir Benjamin Lindsey, Sir Sunder Lal, Sir Syed Wazir Hasan, SirBishambher Nath Srivastava, Pt Gokaran Nath Misra, and, nearer our times, Mr Justice Mubashir HusainQidwai, a distinguished member of the English Bar, before his elevation to the Bench of the AllahabadHigh Court. If death had not snatched away such a brilliant Judge as Mr Justice Qidwai from our midstwhilst he was in office we would have surely found his name in the Hall of Fame of our Court.Among the leaders of the Oudh Bar there were Syed Mahmood, AP Sen, Pt Jagat Narain Mulla, MirzaSamiullah Beg, Sir Iqbal Ahmad (who practiced in Lucknow after he retired as Chief Justice of theAllahabad High Court), Chaudhry Niamatullah who later adorned the Bench of this Court with raredistinction, Ghulam Husan who later became a Judge of our Court and finally the Supreme Court fromthere. The line seems unending.The traditions of independence laid down by the previous generation of Judges and lawyers continuedeven with greater vigour in the post-independence era. Yet another golden chapter in the history of theCourt was opened with the advent of the Constitution. The Court came to occupy a pivotal position underthe Constitution embodying the rule of law and guaranteeing fundamental freedoms. The High Courts andthe Supreme Court were constituted, in the felicitous language of the Chief Justice Patanjali Shastri, thesentinels qui vive to watch and enforce the fundamental rights tempered by principles of social justice andto prevent any distortions of the same.The fifties of this Century witnessed the emergence of yet another galaxy of great lawyers who took thereputation of our Court to sublime heights reminiscent of the greatest Judges and lawyers of yester years.There were Mr GS Pathak, the undisputed leader of the Allahabad Bar and Pt Kanhaiya Lal Misra, thefamed Advocate General of the State both of whom appeared in most of the heaviest matters which cameto this Court beginning from the famous Zamindari Abolition case. Together they played a pivotal role inthe shaping of the Constitutional Law, a comparatively less known branch of the law in those days. Theadvent of the Constitution threw up in its wake great issues of national importance before the Court. Boththese legal giants appearing against one another dominated the scene making contribution towards thegrowth and development of the Constitutional Law and that too at a time when there were hardly anyjudicial precedents of the Courts in India.Of equal eminence was Mr Jagdish Swarup, another erudite lawyer who had made profound studies inthe Constitutional Law besides taxation and company laws. Deeply learned he authored many a treatiseon interpretation of Statutes, Constitution of India, and Company Law. He also held the distinction of a

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Tagore Law Lecturer.Mr. Gopal Swarup Pathak, however, shifted to Supreme Court in the late fifties because of the everincreasing demand of his services in that Court. In the Supreme Court he at once became one of the topleaders of the Bar commanding a huge practice till the call of public duties took him away to holdsuccessively the high offices of Governor of Mysore, the Law Minister in the Union Cabinet and finally theVice President of India.Closely following on the heels of these giants were a band of your lawyers who were to dominate thenational scene in their turn raising the flag of the Court to precipitous heights. There were Mr SC Khare,the illustrious lawyer who reigned supreme in this Court on the constitutional side for almost a quarter of acentury until his end came in the eighties. Mr SN Kackar, a powerful and erudite lawyer shared with MrKhare the leadership of the Bar first of this Court and later of the Supreme Court along with Mr ShantiBhushan. Both of them rose to be Advocates General of the State and subsequently Law Ministers in theUnion Cabinet. Mr Shanti Bhushan, one of the top senior Advocates of the Supreme Court is happily stillin active practice. Mr. Shanti Bhushan has also been taking keen and active interest in public life.Other acknowledged leaders of the Bar of this period accepted the call of the nation and opted out for theBench. They rose to occupy the highest judicial offices of the land. Mr. Justice SN Dwivedi, an eminentJudge of this Court, rose to be a Judge of the Supreme Court and distinguished himself in that positionbut died in harness at a time when he had many more years to go. Mr. Justice MH Beg rose to be theChief Justice of India and held that office with great distinction. There was then Mr Justice Pathak whorose to great heights successively occupying the offices of the Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh, Judgeof the Supreme Court and finally as Chief Justice of India. He also holds the rare distinction of havingserved as a Judge of the International Court of Justice. Indeed from the very outset this Court has beenserving as a reservoir for the highest Judicial Offices. Sir John Edge, our Chief Justice, adorned theBench of Privy Council after his retirement in 1898. Sir Shah Mohd Sulaiman, one of the greatest Judgesproduced by this Court, was elevated to the Federal Court followed by Mr Justices Ghulam Hasan and KNWanchoo. The latter rose to be the Chief Justice of India. At present, three Judges of this Court are inSupreme Court. Mr Justice KN Singh, the present Chief Justice of India, Mr. Justice ND Ojha and MrJustice RM Sahai, besides, Mr Justice KJ Shetty and Mr Justice BP Jeevan Reddy who were both ChiefJustices of this Court before their elevation to the Apex Court.The fame of the Judges of this Court was not confined within the borders of the State even in the earlierperiod of its history. Its very first Chief Justice Sir Walter Morgan went to Madras in 1871 as Chief Justiceof that Court, Sir William Comer Petheram went as Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court in 1886 andMr Justice Kershaw QC as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court in 1898. There was also Sir ArthurTrevor Harrier of this Court who became successively the Chief Justice of three High Courts, those ofPatna, Lahore and Calcutta.It is remarkable that Judges and Chief Justices not only distinguished themselves in the realm of law butalso went on to make a valuable contribution in the field of education. Many of its outstanding ChiefJustices and Judges adorned the highest academic offices as the Vice Chancellors of premier universitiesof the State. Sir John Edge and Sir Henry Richards, Chief Justices, Sir George Knox, Sir PramodaCharan Banerji, Sir Robert Aikman, Sir Sunder Lal, Mr. Justice Gokul Prasad were the Vice Chancellorsof the Allahabad University. The celebrated Judge Sir Shah Mohd. Sulaiman was Vice Chancellor ofAligarh University. Chief Justice Malik became the Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University. Many otherdistinguished lawyers and Judges also served as Vice Chancellors of other universities and they held thehigh academic office with singular distinction.It is impossible to compress within the space of a few pages the record of useful public services renderedby our Court in the past 125 years beyond stating that its history is replete with instances of the Courtshaving consistently repulsed every single challenge to its independence, fearlessly and most decisively.The contribution of the Bar of this Court to public life is now a matter of history. Its leaders, great anddistinguished as they were, in the legal sphere, refused to be confined to the practice of law in which, ofcourse, they excelled to a degree no less than their great contemporaries of other High Courts. From theoutset of the national struggle for independence the leaders of the Bar of this Court joined the mainstreamof public life and were seen in its forefront, playing significant roles in the great struggle launched by thepeople for independence from the alien rule. Pt. Ajudhiya Nath was at once a leader of the Bar and afront-rank leader in the Indian National Congress. Pt. Motilal Nehru unrivalled in forensic eloquence andcommanding a large and lucrative practice did not hesitate to join the struggle and came to the forefrontat the height of the national movement. His illustrious son Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru also joined the struggleand became the first Prime Minister of India. There were then Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya, Sri PurshottamDas Tandon, Dr. Kailash Nath Katju, Dr. Sachchidanand Sinha, the first President of the ConstituentAssembly and, nearer our times, Pt. Gopal Swarup Pathak and a host of others. The Rt. Honble Sir TejBahadur Sapru who was the uncrowned king of the Bar of this Court for decades, became a distinguishedLaw Member in the Viceroys Executive Council besides having represented India at the three RoundTable Conferences between 1929 and 1934.The Bar Continued to make its contribution to public life in the post-independence era as well. The galaxyincluded such eminent names as the late Pt. Gopal Swarup Pathak, successively the Governor ofMysore, Law Minister in the Union Cabinet and finally the Vice President of India, late Sri Shyam NathKackar, the former Advocate General of UP, Solicitor General of India and later the Law Minister in the

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Union Cabinet, Sri Shanti Bhushan, a Senior Advocate and one of the leaders of the Bar of the SupremeCourt, former Advocate General of the State and later the Law Minister in the Union Government from1977 to 1979, the late Sri Jagdish Swarup, the distinguished author, jurist, a member of the first LawCommission and a Tagore Law Lecturer apart from having been the Solicitor General of India from 1966to 1969. The line is unending.In November 1966, the Court celebrated its centenary amid the glitter and glory provided by the presenceof men famed in law and literature, philosophy and history, gathered from all parts of the world. Theoccasion was marked by three days of celebrations and of pomp and splendour. His Excellency, the thenPresident Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the famed philosopher-statesman, inaugurated the celebrations anddelivered an address the echo of which is still reverberating, fresh and vivid.A heritage which is so rich and resplendent and inspiring ought to sustain any institution in any age forgenerations to come. History will not forgive us if we cannot preserve the glory of the past and carry themessage of our Founding Fathers forward with the same vigour and sacredness with which it wasnurtured. It is still not too late.